Email & Comms Jargon · Managing Director level

"Do the needful"

"Do the needful" means to take the obvious or necessary action to complete a task, left for the recipient to figure out.

Say this instead: handle it

How "Do the needful" shows up at work

Common in email chains where the sender is too busy (or too senior) to specify what they actually want done. The phrase outsources both the thinking and the doing in four words.

Buzzword

Please do the needful and send the updated report to the client.

Plain English

Please handle it and send the updated report to the client.

Corporate Rank: Managing Director · Category: Email & Comms Jargon

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More Email & Comms Jargon: Adding for visibility · Adding to the thread · Any update on this · Apologies for the delay · As discussed · As per our conversation

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